Material-handling apparatus



Sept. 22, 1925.

J. F.A VOGEL MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 25, 1921 V N n N Sept. 22, 1925.

J. P'. VOGEL MATERIAL HANDLING mmwrus Filed July 25, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 EN 1 wxxxwm Sept. 22, 1925.

' 1,554.473 J. P. VOGEL y MATERIALI HANDLING APPARATUS y Filed July 25, 1921 sheets-sheet s @vlam-n.

Patented Sept. 22,1925.

UNITED sTAxrEs'A PATENTOFFICE.v i

JOSEPH PIERRE VOGEL, oE PIPTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoR To HEYL aPA'r- TERsoN,. INC., or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 0E vPENNSYL- VANIA.

MATERIAL-HANDLING APPARATUS.

Application led Jv'uly 25, 1921. Serial No. 487,316.L

To all whom it may concern.' Y

Be it known that I, JOSEPH PIERRE VOGEL, a resident of Pittsburgh, AlleghenyCounty, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Material-Handling Apjparatus, of which the following is ay full,

clear, and exact description.

My invention relates broadly to material handling apparatus, and more particularly tomining machinery forhandling materials of different kinds or different grades of the same Akind of material.A My invention is especially applicablecto the handling of coal` and rock in such manner as to keep the same lcars and haul them to the surfaceby some separated after they are dumped from the ordinary mine carsbringing the material ,from the face of the mine.

An object of the invention isthe provision 'of apparatus of capacity to simultaneously the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating one application'of my inventlon and in which:A v

Figure l is a plan Aview of a device em bodying my invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of a device embodying my invention looking inthe direc-- tion of the arrowsvII-II of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is an elevation of a device embodying my invention looking in the direction of the arrows III- III of Figure 2,

In the handling of material, such as coal and rock, taken from a mine, the ,coal is loaded in cars` byv hand and the rock is loaded in other'cars byihand, and the cars containing Acoal and rock are coupled together and carried by some suitable power f device to a vdesired point.h My invention Visl Voperations are carried on solid type which couple and switch the cars containing the dilferent materials, and group the cars/containing like material before' carrying the same to the surface and dumping the same. This method requires space'and trackage for switching the rock carsfrom the kcoal cars, and some kind of means for hoisting each tothe surface, orat least,` some separate means for carrying-thecoaland rock to the surface. l This eXtra trackage and space are expensive and difficult to obtain vwhen-these i underground yas they customarilyl are.

It has been proposed also to assemble'fthe Y kind of conveyor, or to sink a vertical'shaft and provide a skip hoist for the purpose of carrying the cars with the rock or coal to theV surface and dumping the same. This method usually makes it necessary to provide the cars with loose ends which involve a considerably higher maintenance than the invention.V i

1 am enabled to use by my Byrmy 1nvention,'the"string of cars .ccnl

taining rock at regularor irregular intervals is carried 'to a suitable ypoint and the cars are dumped without uncoupling and without .character of different kindfrom the first* to another point, means being provided to diregard to their contents; and means are prorect material vfrom the dumping station to either of the points desired.

By reference to the drawings,a"stringl of cars illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2'is brought Yup onthe tracks 1. y"A trip feeder 2 takes the Vcars and moves them into the rotary dump 3, which ha's'tracks registering with the tracks 1. The rotary dump shown in the drawings is longv enough to Vaccommodate two 'cars as illustrated. The

dump and the tracks, together with the cars,

" are so" proportioned that the airis farou'nd which 'the' dump rotates passes through the Vcenter o'f'theco'upling` 4 of the carsQ. The dump may be of'any desiredidetailconstruction, but is usually provided with a gear 5,

extending f therearound and f cd-operating with the pinion 6, which isoperatedbyl a 'motor 7.'V The dump is suitably Supported at its center and ends so as 'to carry the'load los i of the cars when they pass into the dump.

`Car spotters 8 and 9 are placed on the track so as to insure the proper position of the cars in the dump. Below the dump is a compartment o r receiving hopper 10. This 'hopper constitutes two Ycompartments 11" and f 12`respectively.` The compartmentsy of the hopper correspond in positionv to the position of the cars in the dumpY 3, during the dumping operation, ,so that thev contents from the car 13 will fall into the compartnient 11 and the contents 'of' the'car 1,4 will drop into the compartment 12'. `Each ofthe vcompartments 112 and 12 is provided with a fly'vgate 15, hinged at 16, and operated by a pneumatic piston and cylinder or other suitable means 17. Each fly gate controls two outlets from rits respective compartment.

'off (A skip 23 cooperates with the lower endfof Vthe .storage hopper 21, so that, upon the operation of the gate 22, the rock will discharge into'the skip or other'suitable device, and be conducted from there to anyde- Vsii-'ed point, usually to the surface..

The coal passing from each compartment 11 or 12 through itsoutlet 18 intov the cor responding weigh box is weighed, vand is then' discharged into a chute 24, delivering toan apron feeder25. From veither apron feeder, the ,lcoal vis conducted onto av corre" spending bar `screen 26', which allowsthe lfiner pieces of coal topass through onto a corresponding inspection table 27. The arrangement at this point is' such that the fine coal falls onto the inspection table, which usually 'consists` of a belt, and thus forms a layer of 'soft materialon the belt, upon which the larger particles of coal fall from'the end of the bar-screen v26. 'This has a double advantage, in that the layer of liney coal protects the belt from mutilationfby large pieces of'coal, and furthermore, this layer forms a cushion for `the large 'pieces of coal vto fall upon which prevents breakage of the coal to` a' considerable extent; Furthermore,

this arrangement causesY the ylarger pieces of coal to b e on top ofthe inspection table, so that the inspector may morereadily inspect the different pieces than if the twofwere in-l termixed. VThe coalA is conductedl by each 'inspection' table through achute2'8 onto a `common belt conveyor 29, leading to the sur- '.face. All. of the various moving parts, such as the inspection tables, apron feeders, etc.,

Vmay' beroperated by suitable motors` and gears, oroth'erwise. These operating means are so Well known that a detail description thereof would merely encumber this speciication, without aiding in an understanding of the invention.V

The outlet from each VVvx'feigh box is operated through a counterweighted cord 3Q by an operator who isV stationed in 'alcompartment, with the indicating element of the scale 3l. M e

The operation'A of my invention is as follows; The cars are filled at the face of the mine, some with coal and some with rock. The train of cars is brought in ,anyr desired manner to the trip feeder 2,.` This trip feeder is operated by any suitable power'` device and is arranged to move'the cars tothe right, as shown in Figure 2. When the first car of the train is brought under the control of the trip feederthe engine or other motorfor hauling the train maybegdisconnected. The trip feeder 'moves the train so that the first two cars are in the rotary dump 3, This is determined by the position of the third car with relation to thespotter 8. Thetrain is then stopped and the motor i7 started which, throughgthe gears 5 and 6, rotates the dump 3, together with.

the two cars therein. Assuming that'the first car of the train in the dump contains rock and the second cari coal, the` fly gate of compartment 12 would have .the f position .shown vin full lines in Figure 8, andthe fly gate for the `compartment 11 would have the position shown in dotted lines in Figure the contents of the cars will be dumped, the

3. When the dump 3 rotates suiiiciently,

rock falling into the compartment 11 andV the coal intothe compartment 12. Thecoal vwill go immediately into the corresponding weigh box 19 and as, soonasit is weighed will be discharged into the corresponding chute 24, yand from there. on to the corresponding apron Aifeveder 25 and inspection table, and from there onto the common belt ,conveyor 29, leading tothe surface or other desired point.

The rock 'will be discharged compartment 11 into the chute 20,7deliveringv into the storage hopper 21, andv when a sufficient amount of the rock has been dis* charged into the storage hopper 21, the gate from the 22 is-raised and the rock skip 2 3, or otherV Y sui-'table device, 'isloaded and is then co1iducted to the surface-or other desired point and the rock discharged. y, Y

After the 'first twio Icars of the train again to its normal position j and the Y,trip feeder is operated to bring ythenext two cars in position, whereupon the operation above explained is repeated. VIn this case,

have been dumped, the dump. Sfis rotated however, the rock may be in the rfourth car 1.

and the coal in the third car ofthe train, in whichl event, the fly gates would be reversedk in position and the same ultimate result Obtained, Theinext tWO Cars, that is 5 and 6, may both contain coal, in which case, the fly gates would be so positioned as to conduct the coal from both compartments 1l and 12 into both Weigh boxes. 0n the other hand, these tWo cars may both contain rock in which event, the fly gates would be so positioned that both the compartments 11 and 12 Would discharge into the storage hopper 21, through the chute 20.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an apparatus for accommodating, either simultaneously or successively, carriers, certain of which may conta-in one kind of material and certain others of Which may contain a different kind of material, as, for instance, coal and rock, and for receiving the contents of such carriers and distributing the same to suitable delivery points, While maintaining the different kinds of materials separated. While the apparatus is intended for normally handling a plu-k rality of kinds of material, either simultaneously or substantially simultaneously, it is also adapted for the handling of one kind of material only for a given period of time, and for the 'subsequent handling of a different kind of material for another given period of time.

It will be apparent that many changes may be made in the details of the various elements constituting my invention, Without departing from the spirit thereof. I am therefore not to be limitedto the particular means illustrated, but my invention is broad enough to include any particular elements co-operating to effect the functions illustrated in the embodiment shown and covered by the annexed claims.`

I claim:

l. In apparatus of the character described the combination of a dumping station for simultaneously accommodating a plurality of material carriers to be dumped, individual means for receiving the material from each of said carriers, and means associated with each of said receiving means whereby to direct all of the material received4 thereby at will to any of a plurality of delivery vpoints each of which is common to all of such receiving means, substantially as described. v

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a dumping station for simultaneously accommodating a plurality of material carriers to be dumped, individual means for receiving the material from each of said carriers, means for directing all of the material from each of said receiving means to any of a plurality of delivery points each of which is common to all of such receiving means, and individual means for receiving and handling the material delivered yin any of said directions, substantially as described. e

3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a dumping station for simultaneously accommodating a plurality of material carriers to be dumped, an individual -compartment for receiving thematerial from each carrier, delivery means leading from each of said compartments to a common delivery point, delivery means leading from each of said compartments to a second common delivery point, and means associated with each of said compartments for directing the material received thereby to either of the delivery means leading l therefrom, substantially as described.

4. In apparatus of the character described, the combinationy of a dumping station for simultaneously accommodating a plurality of material carriers to be dumped, individual means for receiving the contents of each of said carriers, means for directing at will all of the material received vby each of said receiving means to any of a plurality of delivery points each of Which is common to all of such receiving means, and means for Weighing the'pmaterial delivered in one direction from each of said receiving means, substantially as described.

5. In apparatus ofl the character described, the combination of a dumping station for simultaneously accommodating a plurality of cars to be dumped, certain of saidcars containing coal and certain others rock, an individual compartment for receiving the contents of each car and havingy provision for directing the rock in one direction and the vcoal in another direction at said Weighing means, and a, conveyor for receiving the coal from all of said Weighing means and conducting the same to a suitable delivery point, substantially as vdescribed.

In testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

J PIERRE VOGEL. 

